Challenge
by Pursued-Alive
Summary: Sasuke needs to gain power to go through with his vengeance. What better way of accomplishing that than to challenge the fellow idiot in his team, Naruto, to a late-night fight? Sarcastic quips and remarks turn to a pillow fight, awkwardness ensues. Ah, you've just gotta love that. /Slight NaruSasu depending on how you view it. Don't like, don't view! Simple as that, really.


_Challenge_

_A/N: So this fic somehow started out as an angsty and when I added in dialogue that whole part changed. ^^; Sometimes things don't go as well as you intend them to, right? Ha ha... _;_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy! I just love making a sarcastic Naruto – it just makes me smile. Isn't he just kick-ass when he's sarcastic? Sasuke should take a leaf out of his book more. XD _

Harder, and harder he pushed himself until he could take no more, and he fell to his knees, his Chidori disintergrating into the air, sweat beading upon his brow, rolling down the sides of his face. Breaths left him, thoughts managed to evade him as he looked up into the bright blue sky, cursing it for its colour, for its life. He lacked colour, he lacked life. Revenge had served its purpose, but it didn't give him any sense of fulfillment. He was empty, as lifeless as a black, bottomless pit of despair. Gathering dirt into his hand, he threw it far away from himself, ebony eyes lacking any spark to them. What he needed was to inject some colour into his life. Sasuke did not know how.

He had been this way for as long as he could remember, from the day his older brother slaughtered his clan, and instilled in him vengeance in place of love. Shakily struggling to his feet, scratches etched into his ivory skin, he gripped the wooden pole in front of him with both hands and lowered his head, breathing heavily.

Then he swiped a kick at it and grunted as it impacted, and he flipped backwards, pursing his lips.

What he needed was to drown his sorrows in something.

Alcohol was not to his taste. It was bitter, and yes, with his dislike for sweet foods, you would think he would prefer bitter over sweet? Not exactly. Sasuke had no intention to drown his sorrows in drink like every other middle-aged man or woman would do after a hard day's work. He dedicated himself to studying, getting stronger, and beating his rival, Naruto. Sasuke gave a sharp snort and whirled around, walking towards the gate as he wiped the sweat of his brow. As if his time would need to be wasted on such a fruitless, frivolous goal. Sasuke didn't need to _beat _Naruto. Naruto should have realised who would win by now, in any of their fights. Sasuke would win. He made sure of it. Naruto had no kekke genkai. Sasuke had the _Sharingan. _He would _crush _him.

An arrogant smirk crossed his face as he began to run, jumping off the ground and them from each tiled rooftop, his two-tomoe Sharingan activated as he sped towards Naruto's apartment. What better way to prove that he would beat him than to wake him up in his sleep? But when he arrived on the top of his roof, he did not see Naruto sleeping. Naruto leaned against the railing near the door of his apartment and looked up. How did the blonde even know that Sasuke would be coming?

_The loser must have guessed. There's no way he would have known that I was coming. _

"What are you doing near my apartment, Sasuke? _Looking at the stars, _are we? Somehow I find that hard to believe." Naruto folded his arms across his chest and huffed, while Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"I don't need to tell you why I'm here. That would defeat the purpose."

"Oh, would it, now? What a shame. It must be a pretty good plan for you to come _all _the way here to go through with it," Naruto replied sarcastically, snorting as he rolled his eyes. "Come on. You must be joking already."

"Tch! You're getting on my nerves, _usuratonkachi. _I suggest you shut your mouth before I shut it for you."

"That sounds quite fun."

"Don't tempt me," Sasuke spat, gritting his teeth as he jumped off the roof, standing in front of Naruto, a few metres away from him. "You have no idea about the nonsense you're spouting. I'll fight you right here and now, whether you damn like it or not!"

"Ah, sorry. I'm actually going to go to bed. How about another time?" Grinning, Naruto walked right past Sasuke into his house. A bewildered Sasuke followed him, his fists shaking in rage. Sasuke wanted to fight him, and Naruto took it as a...a joke? Just who did he take him for? An idiot? Naruto was the idiot!

"_Now._"

"Don't you understand the meaning of 'going to bed,' Sasuke? Or is that beyond your comprehension, too? You should get some beauty sleep, too, by the way. You need it," he shot over his shoulder, practically smirking at the now seething Uchiha, his eyes flashing bright red in the darkness of Naruto's apartment as he walked into his room. Naruto was just about to close the door before Sasuke jammed it open with his foot, scowling at the blonde.

"Don't freaking joke around with me, Uzumaki. I said I wanted to fight you. If you don't fight me, it'll prove as to how much of a weakling you really are."

Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch at that statement, but he kept his cool, snorting. "But then I'll just insist that you came _all the way _out here to fight me for _absolutely no reason, _and you'll instead play the fool. Besides, I don't really care what you're going to do to me. I'm going to sleep, and that's it."

"I'll drug you."

"Go ahead." Naruto unbuttoned his pyjama shirt and threw it off on the floor, messily strewn with used cartons of ramen, tickets for Ichiraku and bags of chips that had been eated. "You can even kill me if you like – good luck with that, by the way. I doubt you'll get very far, but I'm sure you'll need luck. Plenty of it."

Sasuke felt like yelling at the blonde. Damnit, he wanted to demonstrate his power, and Naruto wasn't taking the bait at all! Just what the hell was he doing, anyway? Was he just not competitive? Should Sasuke challenge him tomorrow? Was that it? Sasuke had no idea. But he hated this part of Naruto. Naruto was usually easy to bait. Tonight? Not so much. "Naruto...I'm warning you..."

Naruto climbed into bed, put his nightcap on and yawned loudly just to annoy Sasuke as he switched off his light. "Warnings are invalid. Try tomorrow, Uchiha."

Sasuke grabbed a pillow and threw it at Naruto's face, smirking as it hit him right in between the eyes. _Score. _

"What the-? Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" An irritated Naruto turned the light back on, grabbed the pillow, and began to hit Sasuke with it all over, as Sasuke defended himself as best as he could against the pillow attacker, growling under his breath. "I'll teach you for whacking me with a pillow while I'm trying to sleep!"

"Deadlast."

"Idiot!"

"Moron."

"Look who's talking!"

Angry shouts of neighbours could be heard as Sasuke pinned Naruto down in a flash, about to attack him right in the face with the pillow, and they both looked outside. "Keep quiet," Naruto hissed, trying to kick him but failing as he glared up at the raven-haired boy.

"You keep quiet!" Sasuke whispered, as the lights turned off, and they were in the dark. A few minutes of awkward silence passed before either one of them spoke up. "Uh...do you want to turn the light back on?"

"Why? Scared of the dark, Sasuke?"

"No, it's just that I'm in a very uncomfortable position right now."

Naruto widened his eyes, flushed and pushed Sasuke off of him. "O-oh, right. Sorry." Laughing nervously, he turned on the light and their faces were bathed with colour once again, as Sasuke looked at Naruto and grinned mischievously.

"Oi."

"What?"

"Want to do that again...?"


End file.
